A Little Bit of Trust Cpt. 38

Back in the model house they currently had, Charlie was slowly but gradually coming back to full consciousness. It was hard, like getting to the surface of a deep pool of water, but after a few minutes he was able to crack open his eyes. He felt empty, spent; the adrenaline had gone away, along with the terror and panic that had been keeping him so wired. Though he didn’t feel like crying anymore his eyes still felt heavy, and his mental state was still pretty wrecked. He wasn’t sure how he felt really, just tired and full of unnamable emotion.

The sleep had definitely done a great deal of good however, as he wasn’t on the edge of a complete breakdown anymore. Really all he wanted to do was get some more sleep, but his leg was throbbing and he wanted – no, needed – to know if Felicia was taken care of. He couldn’t bear not knowing, feeling like she could be showing up at any moment, though he doubted Colfax would have let that remain a possibility. So with a deep breath he sat up and got out of bed, grabbing his crutch where it was resting against the wall and making his way out of the house.

Adrian chuckled at Sawyer's comment, quickly saving the project and closing the computer. He almost chimed in with their banter, but stopped when he saw motion in the corner of his eye. Sure enough, when he looked at the door of the house, there was Charlie. "Ah. I hope you're feeling a little refreshed, Charlie," he said softly, adopting an encouraging expression. He could see that the viri still looked a little tense, so he was gladder than ever that they were safe from Felicia's insanity now. "We've got some good news!" He turned his head to look at Colfax expectantly.

Colfax glanced once at Adrian's gaze before turning his focus back to the injured viri. Seeing his less-than-ideal state pissed him off all over again; if nothing else, Felicia had risked greater injury to his already-hurt patient. He thought back to earlier, when she'd screamed and cried to him about stealing back "her" viri. He'd almost slapped her right then and there. His face didn't betray his remembered frustration, but his voice was a little quieter than usual. "Felicia will not be bothering you again, Charlie. In fact, Felicia is now under the impression that she will be cursed horribly if she so much as sees a viri." He rolled his eyes a little at that last bit, though he knew that curing such deep-seated neurosis was beyond his skills, no matter how intimidating.

Charlie listened to Colfax carefully, glancing over at Sawyer when he finished. Sawyer nodded gravely and some of the lingering tension in Charlie’s shoulders disappeared. “Thank you,” he said, the hoarseness of a deep sleep still clinging to his voice. He looked up at Colfax again with a serious expression. “That makes me feel a lot better.” It did, though he knew it would still take a while for him to feel anywhere near as comfortable as he had been before all this happened. He would still probably be paranoid for a long while, but knowing logically and certainly that he had nothing more to fear could only help that. With a small sigh he sat down on the edge of the porch, setting his crutch to the side and dangling his legs over the space. His broken leg was still throbbing painfully under the cast, no doubt from the recent trauma and the running they had done while trying to escape.

As he did so Sawyer walked over and climbed up next to him, sitting by his side. There was a bit of quiet at first, as Charlie didn’t seem to be in the mood for talking and Sawyer didn’t want to push it. After all they had been through it was understandable, especially considering Charlie was such a quiet person to begin with. However, Sawyer was still greatly concerned for his friend, and wished he could know what was going through that head of his. Noticing the way Charlie was being careful with his casted leg he frowned slightly and asked, “Your leg hurting?” Charlie nodded quietly, staring rather intently at the floor, and Sawyer’s frown deepened. “You want some ice for it?” Another small nod. Sawyer looked up at the two humans expectantly, assuming that one of them at least would go and get it for them.

Both humans' eyes were drawn to the cast when Sawyer asked if Charlie's leg was hurting.  Colfax sat on the ground next to Adrian, his eyes trained on the injured limb. Adrian, however, didn't even wait for an answer when the question of ice came up. He stood and went to the kitchen, preparing a small zip baggy with an ice cube, wrapping it in a spare washcloth. He returned swiftly, setting the overlarge ice pack next to the viri on the shelf. "Hope that helps," he said softly, his voice laced with concern.

Colfax, already quite anxious about Charlie's health, couldn't hold back. His medical side taking over, he asked, "Charlie, I know it may be difficult to tell, but does it feel like your injury has shifted inside the cast? It's designed to prevent that, but if so it will need to be fixed right away so the bone heals correctly." He found himself fervently hoping that the answer was no; Charlie didn't need more stress. But, as a medical professional, he had to ask these questions. Colfax wasn't allowed to fret in such a situation.

“Thank you,” Charlie murmured to Adrian, shifting so that he could rest his leg on top of the ice pack. Sawyer shifted away a bit as well to leave him room to do so, though he remained seated close to Charlie. As Charlie got settled he listened to Colfax’s question, pondering the response. Shaking his head softly he said, “No, I don’t think so… it doesn’t feel out of place, just sore.” He hoped it hadn’t shifted and he just couldn’t tell, but he was pretty sure about his answer. After all, it didn’t hurt that bad. He appreciated Colfax’s concern nonetheless, knowing that besides being medical in nature the question came from care for his personal wellbeing. Everybody in the room had done enough to prove that at the very least; no doubt remained in Charlie’s mind that even Colfax cared greatly about him, and that was almost overwhelming. Outside of his family and Sawyer, Charlie hadn’t had anybody near that level of friendship in his life. He just wished they could have found it out under a less strenuous string of circumstances.

Colfax was relieved. He knew that having to break the cast off, re-set Charlie's bone, and put a new cast on would likely be quite painful. Stoic though he was, he was hopeful for Charlie's speedy recovery.

He hesitated, but then shifted where he sat to retrieve something from his back pocket. It was a plastic box, about the right size for a deck of cards. When he opened it, the miniature books he had stacked inside remained, if a little jostled. He took the largest of the books in his other hand, closing his fingers around it to hide it from sight. He glanced at Adrian and Sawyer before settling his gaze on Charlie. "In that case, I believe you are still on track for recovery in a few weeks." He lowered his hand and opened his grasp in front of Charlie, revealing the viri history book lying on his palm. "Something to do while you wait," he explained simply. His face showed nothing, as usual, but he was secretly really hoping that Charlie would appreciate the gift. Colfax did not often go out of his way to give presents, after all.

Adrian's eyebrows shot up when he saw the little book. Colfax had salvaged a tiny library from Felicia! He peeked into the plastic case at the other books in there. They seemed like a pretty standard assortment of the classics, their titles stamped on the tiny covers in bold lettering. He couldn't help but grin at Colfax's forward-thinking. Even with everything going on, he had been thinking of a way to help put Charlie at ease. "Jeez, there's even a copy of The Three Musketeers in here," he commented. He chuckled. "Sawyer, you'd probably like that one."

With wide eyes Charlie took the book from Colfax’s hand, looking from it to Colfax and back in surprise. “You… but she…” he stammered, a bit confused as to how it ended up in his possession. Eventually he settled for a sincere, “Thank you.” It meant a lot to him, being a viri text and all, and it meant even more that Colfax had managed to wrangle it away from Felicia. Not to mention the novelty of getting a present from Colfax, of all people. Looking down at the book he stroked the old, worn spine, a soft smile lighting up his face. As Adrian looked through the rest of them, which were the human novels turned viri-size that Felicia had shown him earlier, Charlie opened the book to the first page and started reading. From the start he was so involved that he hardly heard what Adrian was saying.

Sawyer, knowing full well that Charlie was all but lost to them now that he had something interesting to read, hopped down from the porch and walked over to where Adrian was looking through the books. “The Three Musketeers, huh?” he mused, picking up the book that Adrian had mentioned. It was simply made, with a green paper cover and just the title printed in front. The words inside were written pretty large in comparison, but that wouldn’t be an issue really. Flipping through some of the pages he asked, “What is it about?” Though viri had a good grasp of literature themselves, human "classics" (or any other novels for that matter) tended to be a realm somewhat outside of their experience. After all, reading a human-sized book was rather challenging, and you certainly weren’t going to get one into the walls. He was quite interested in what they would be about.

Adrian lightly closed the plastic case once Sawyer had retrieved a book of his own. That was quite a good find on Colfax's part; it looked like the mini books were complete copies. He wondered himself how Colfax had managed to take off with so many of them, but thought that asking would ruin the fun for him. So, instead, he focused on the question Sawyer had directed at him. "Well, I haven't read it since high school, but it's about this swordsman who wants to join the royal guard in France. He makes friends with three other swordsmen, the musketeers." He had to pause to remember what else happened in the book. "I think they have to fight some guy who wants to take the throne?" He chuckled nervously and shrugged. Adrian didn't read a lot of fiction usually, opting for the technical books and math puzzle types of reading. But, for some reason, he pegged Sawyer as an adventure fan.

Colfax eyed Charlie's reaction for a few seconds, rather happy that his gift had the desired effect. Hopefully, Charlie would have so much to read that he'd have an easier time forgetting what needed to be forgotten. He had originally wanted to keep the little history and read it himself first. The things he could learn from that book were probably many. But, it pained him to admit, taking information like that would be unethical; he'd be no better than Felicia. He picked up the plastic case of books and moved it, setting it next to the front door of the model house. He could only assume that Charlie would burn right through the whole stock in no time, what with how quickly he'd dived into the history he currently held. Colfax turned his gaze to the book Sawyer now investigated, smirking faintly. "It's going to make you want to learn to fence," he quipped.

“Sounds awesome,” Sawyer said with a grin. Though he wasn’t much of a reader on a normal basis (mostly because there wasn’t all that much to read), he was actually quite looking forward to reading the novel. Most viri stuff he had read wasn’t fictional stuff – the novel Charlie had was the only one he’d ever encountered – and they certainly weren’t as interesting and action-packed as this one sounded. For an adrenaline junkie like Sawyer an adventure novel sounded amazing. “Not sure how I could learn to fence if I end up wanting to, but I’m sure I could figure out something,” he commented, already musing over it. A sewing needle might be the equivalent of a human sword as far as weight and balance, as long as he figured out a suitable grip… He walked back to the porch and put his book on top of the plastic case Colfax had put there. Leaning on the shelf next to Charlie he asked, “Is it interesting?”

“Hm?” Charlie hummed, looking at him with a somewhat unfocused gaze as he was pulled out of his reading. “Oh, yes, very!” A smile came over his face as he described it to Sawyer, eager to share even recently acquired knowledge. “It evidently belonged to a family on the east coast around the early eighteen hundreds, or at least it does at the beginning of the records. They had just come over on a ship from Ireland, the two parents and their five children, and this record starts as they arrive in America. It’s a fascinating account so far.” Sawyer nodded, expressing suitable interest in return. That was enough for Charlie to go back to reading, though that was no surprise to Sawyer. Once Charlie got into a book, especially a new one (which was few and far between), it was hard to drag him out of it.

Adrian couldn't help but smile as Charlie avidly described the book. He could tell from his face that the guy really enjoyed reading, so he was doubly glad that Colfax had salvaged so many books. It was definitely a good idea on his friend's part. And, truth be told, Adrian was very intrigued about what it must have been like to be not only an immigrant to America, but a viri immigrant to the States. He'd probably have to ask Charlie to tell some stories at some point. He watched Charlie get absorbed back into his reading, and grinned. "Let's leave him to it," he said quietly. "There's history to be learned."

Colfax, quite happy with himself, moved back where he sat on the floor to lean against the couch. He pulled his work from where he'd abandoned it before onto his lap. He had no trouble with Adrian's suggestion. After all, his best method of indicating he was someone's friend was to tolerate being around them. He was not a social butterfly, and even though he'd been awake all of thirty minutes since his snooze, he felt the need to recharge a little from all the talking he'd done today.

Realizing he still had all his gear on, and not wanting to wear it for the next few hours as everybody relaxed, Sawyer hopped up onto the porch and walked back into the house. After putting everything away in his room again (which really meant just tossing it in the general direction of his bag) he made his way back out into the living room. He grabbed his book from where he had set it on top of the plastic case and jumped down to the floor, walking casually over towards where Colfax was sitting. Without a word, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, Sawyer climbed up onto Colfax’s lap and made himself comfortable against the human’s abdomen. Charlie was too involved in his book to notice, though considering it was just Colfax, Sawyer doubted he would care. Nestled into Colfax like that, between his hip and where the human had set his work, Sawyer opened up his book and started reading.

Colfax glanced away from the sentence he was reading when Sawyer approached. Then, he raised his eyebrows when the viri climbed onto his lap and settled in. He quickly gained control of his expressions, making sure not to show any emotion. But he was more than a little flattered that Sawyer had come to trust him this well. He looked up to see Adrian giving him an almost teasing look. So he hadn't quite hidden his surprise in time. Still, he gave his friend a flat look that dared him to say something about it before looking back at his work.